There was a debate last Friday night between Democratic candidates running for governor.
Don’t fret if you were unaware. Most sane people were unaware. It wasn’t worth your time or your attention.
The frontrunner for the Democratic nomination, former U.S. Senator Doug Jones, wasn’t there. He has taken some criticism for his decision to thus far decline these debate invitations (Friday’s was the second “debate” among the candidates).
He shouldn’t. Because his absence is exactly the proper message.
Jones is running a serious, grown-up, real-shot-at-winning campaign to be the leader of this state. The other people are … honestly, I don’t know what they’re doing, aside from embarrassing themselves.
If you doubt this, consider that during Friday’s debate, one candidate brought two cucumbers and placed them on the table in front of him to mock another candidate. If you’re unsure why such a gesture would be mocking, consider yourself very fortunate, because you do not want to know the extremely explicit pickle-and-condom story behind it.
This, in a nutshell, has been the Alabama Democratic Party for the past decade and a half—a laughing stock.
A party so disorganized and in such disarray that its top-of-the-ticket candidates for some of the state’s most important offices were unserious attention seekers who you wouldn’t trust to water your plants, much less run the state. And that’s exactly who these debates-minus-Jones have featured.
In the room on Friday was a self-proclaimed pastor whose gubernatorial platform includes implementing “twerking Tuesdays” and who has admitted multiple times over the past few weeks to paying women’s power bills in exchange for sex. Two other candidates – Chad “Chig” Martin and Yolanda Flowers, who was the party’s last gubernatorial nominee in 2022 – have a history of criticizing the Democratic Party and seem wholly unsure if they can support some of the basic tenets of the party. And finally, there’s Will Boyd, who is the closest to a serious candidate among the group, but for some reason refuses to take a step-by-step pathway to political success and instead insists on running in races in which he has zero chance, which leaves him in rooms like the one Friday.
Jones has outraised all of them combined in a single day.
It’s an absolute clown show.
You know it. I know it.
Not a soul in that room has a prayer of ever winning a race for governor, unless by some weird twist of fate, the race for governor involves guzzling MD 20/20 or bringing the most creative pickle props.
In the meantime, there’s Jones.
He’s running a real campaign. He’s raising money. He’s building a strong coalition behind him and the top-of-the-ticket candidates he’s helped recruit to run for statewide office. ADP officials also have been instrumental in recruiting up and down the ticket, luring respected candidates into numerous races and avoiding the bickering and in-fighting that has so often undermined the potential for success.
It’s a sane, pro-business, pro-worker, steady slate of candidates that average people in this state – people of all races and all walks of life – could actually envision themselves voting for. It’s a slate of candidates that has a chance to restore some credibility to the Alabama Democratic Party. It’s a slate of candidates that will most certainly lift down-ballot Democrats to victories – victories that could spell future success for the party.
And that’s not just me saying that.
Jones and his Sane Party Candidates at the top of the ticket have picked up a lot of support over the last few weeks. Polling has been surprisingly good – much better than even the biggest optimists hoped for at this point in the races.
Is it any wonder?
While Jones, Phillip Ensler, Ron Sparks and other Democrats have been out on the campaign trail talking about real issues, like how to make things more affordable for the average Alabamian and how to address the real crises facing farmers and families, the Republicans who created the mess in this state (and around the country) are out here talking about how to fight Muslims and who loves Trump more.
These are not serious people. One guy’s solution to higher power bills was to shoot them. (God help us if they hear about this pickle ordeal.)
That’s where we are in this state right now. A whole bunch of working people are taking an absolute pounding from the folks they put in charge. They’re looking for better options. They’re looking for serious people who they can trust to do right and act right and be decent. They’re tired of the foolishness. They’re worn out by the absurdities. They just want to put in an honest day’s work and not have to worry every night if they can pay their most basic bills.
And you know, that’s not too much to ask. In fact, it could be argued that it’s the bare minimum we should expect.
Right now, there’s one group of people in this state talking about how to do that and offering real, tangible solutions to our biggest problems. Voters across the state and across the aisle are starting to pay attention.
And the best way to keep that momentum going is to stay the hell out of these goofy, unserious debates.
